Download October - Prescott Computer Society

September 2013
Visit our website at www.pcs4me.com
Ken Johnson, Newsletter Editor
CAL ENDAR
SIG = Special Interest Group
This Week's Schedule
October 19 - Saturday - 1:00-3:00 PM
General Meeting - Leader: Ray Carlson
Location: Prescott Public Library
First Hour: Can We Trust Online Reviews?
During the first hour, we will have an open discussion of questions and suggestions made from the audience, but the
primary focus will be on-line reviews. Several on-line stores, travel sites, and the like ask consumers to submit reviews
of things they buy, hotels or restaurants they visit, etc. It is known that some companies pay people to make very
positive reviews creating questions about the trustworthiness of such reviews. Recent analysis suggests that it is
possible to recognize honest patterns among these reviews. We will present this material while encouraging those
present to present any insights they have developed and their views as to the best sites for such reviews.
Second Hour: Phil Ball will continue with his round-up of Tips and Tricks that will improve your computer experience.
In addition to the presentations, the following are typical events which take place at our General meetings:
1) We hold an informal Flea Market in which you are encouraged to bring in your excess computer equipment or
software and make them available for others to enjoy at no charge. Please deposit give-away items on the table in the
back marked "Free Stuff." Any items left here at the end of the meeting are subject to disposal.
2) If you have items that are just too good to give away, you may set up a separate table and hold your own sale.
3) We conduct a raffle of new computer items at the end of the meeting, so make sure to get a pair of tickets from
whoever is in charge and place one on the item you'd like to win.
4) We will also accept your used ink and toner cartridges for recycling. They are turned in to Think4Inc for
credits which PCS uses to purchase office supplies from them.
Future Meetings
October 26 - Saturday - 1:00-3:00 PM
Special Topics SIG - Leader: JB Burke
Location: Prescott Public Library
This session will feature "News You Can Use".
Calendar Cont on Pg 2
Prescott Computer Society MESSENGER
Page 2
We will lead off with a demo of the formal released version of Windows 8.1. Discussion will include the good
and bad points of Windows 8, what 8.1 does to help make it better, and where it falls short. Included will be
critical details on how to get the most out of Windows 8.1, and how you can make Windows 8.1 even better
and easier to use than Microsoft did.
Following that discussion, in the remaining time, there will be updates to topics such as Android tablets,
iOS7 (is it dangerous to your health?), wonderful things from "The Internet" (of course), how to measure
your mental age, and why hospitals are kicking PCs out (what's that all about?).
Don't miss this dynamic, hard hitting, information packed session. Really!
November 2 - Saturday - 1:00-3:00 PM
Developers' SIG - Leader: Rich Knapfel
Location: Prescott Public Library
First Hour: Ray DeCosta will demonstrate how to work with embedded code and code-behind pages on a
typical webpage.
Second Hour: Rich Knapfel will discuss website hosting and using FTP programs to upload website pages.
November 9 - Saturday - 1:00-3:00 PM
Digital Photo SIG - Leader: Phil Ball
Location: Prescott Public Library
Many aspects of digital photography will be discussed, including use of digital cameras and using Photoshop
Elements to make your photos look their best.
Note that these dates are correct at time of publication but are subject to change.
Up to date information can be found on our website, www.pcs4me.com
Unless otherwise noted, our meetings are usually held in the
Founder’s Suite at the Prescott Public Library.
We l com e to
NE W MEM BER
Lauraine DuPont
Prescott Computer Society
Where you share
what you know,
and learn what you don’t.
Prescott Computer Society
Officers & Board of Directors
Officers:
President
Vice Pres
Secretary
Treasurer
2012-2013
General Directors:
Ray Carlson
Joan Baum
Murray Smolens
Phil Ball
John Carter
JB Burke
Joan Fullmore
Edi Taylor-Richards
Rich Knapfel
Prescott Computer Society MESSENGER
Overbooked
By Greg Skalka, President, Under the Computer
Hood User Group, CA
March 2013 issue, DriveLight
Page 3
Originating around the 5th century, they were hand
written and hand copied until printing methods
were developed centuries later. Guttenberg’s movable type in 1450, later industrial printing methods
and Amazon’s online marketing ultimately made
books inexpensive and accessible to everyone.
www.uchug.org
Companies are continuing to develop new and more
advanced computer technologies, finding ways to
innovate on the personal computing platform first
released over thirty years ago. Their marketing departments have not been as great at innovation,
however, often using derivative and less than imaginative terminology to name and describe these new
products and services. These marketing terms are
often meaningless fluff, but we users are frequently
forced to adopt them into our technical language.
eBook - An electronic version of a printed book (or
even one that has never been physically printed). An
eBook can be read using e-readers like Amazon’s
Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook (which surprisingly don’t have “book” in their names), as well as
computers, tablets and smart phones. Amazon.com
started out as an online seller of books, and now in
conjunction with their reader is a main source of
eBooks. The existence of many eBook formats does
not appear to have diminished eBook popularity.
One company that you all know has taken to slapping
a lower case “i” on the front of the names of whatever products or services they are offering. It does
not seem terribly imaginative to me, but I’m sure
they do it to distinguish their products from those of
other manufactures (at least legally).
Netbook - A smaller and less capable version of the
notebook, the netbook was popularized in 2007 by
manufacturer Asus, but the format was soon copied
by others. Netbooks were meant to be even more
portable, with smaller screens (5” to 12” diagonal)
and lower weight (optical drives were omitted).
With a less powerful processor than notebooks, they
were much less expensive, and were intended primarily for use on the Internet (through wired and
wireless connections). They competed well against
notebooks for a while on their cost and size, but recent improvements in notebooks (reductions in cost
and weight and increases in performance), as well as
the introduction of the tablet computer, have diminished netbook sales greatly. It is likely this category
will disappear from the marketplace soon.
Another overused term for new technology is
“smart”. There are smart phones, smart homes, the
smart card, smart cars, smart trains, smart TV, the
smart grid, smart meters and smart growth. My head
is smarting from thinking about how many things are
now referred to as smart. While it is hard to argue
against a product when it has “smart” as part of its
name, the term alone is not enough to ensure acceptance. For instance, Smart Computing was once a
popular print and web magazine that explained new
computer technology to the common user. They
couldn’t make money long term in that market, so
they turned it into a free online business-oriented
publication that looks to be mostly advertising.
The latest overused technology term I’ve noticed is
“book”. I’ve created the following list of book-related
items and their descriptions for instructional purposes, and to see just how long a list I could make.
Book - The original item; a set of flat cellulose sheets
with information printed on one or both sides that
are fastened together at one edge, forming a hinge.
PowerBook - A line of Apple Macintosh laptop computers sold between 1991 and 2006, featuring
PowerPC processors running an Apple Mac OS. They
were targeted at the professional market and were
replaced by the MacBook computer line.
iBook - A brand of Apple laptop computers sold between 1999 and 2006, featuring PowerPC processors running an Apple Mac OS. They were targeted
at the consumer and educational markets, with
lower performance and cost compared to the
PowerBooks, and were replaced by the MacBook
computers.
Continued on pg 4
Page 4
cont’d from p 3:
MacBook - A brand of Macintosh laptop computers
made by Apple from 2006 to the present (includes
MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models currently offered), running the Mac OS. These laptops had
screens ranging from 11” to 17”, Intel processors and
either a polycarbonate / fiberglass or aluminum case.
The MacBook Pro features 13” to 17” screens, optical
drives and mechanical hard drives (with an SSD, or
solid state drive, as an option). The MacBook Air is an
ultraportable laptop released in 2008 that is extremely light and thin, with a machined aluminum
case, Intel processor, 11.6” or 13.3” diagonal display
and SSD for main storage.
Ultrabook - A high-end type of notebook computer
defined by Intel in 2011 to compete with the
MacBook Air. Like the MacBook Air, the Ultrabook is
lightweight and thin (0.8”), with SSD storage, Intel
processor (no surprise), long battery life and typically
no optical drive or Ethernet ports. It is intended to
use the Microsoft Windows operating system, with
some models sporting a touchscreen display to work
better with Windows 8.
Various manufacturers, including Asus, Acer, Dell,
Lenovo, HP, Samsung and Fujitsu have already released Ultrabook models, with diagonal screen sizes
ranging from 11.6” to 15.6”. Their higher cost
(typically $1000) as compared to conventional notebook computers has limited their acceptance in the
marketplace so far.
Zenbook - An Asus family of Ultrabook computers,
ranging from a model with an 11.6” diagonal screen
and limited connectivity to a 15” screen model with
an optical drive. First released in 2011, their design
was said to follow “zen philosophy”.
Chromebook - A notebook computer running the
Google Chrome OS (which is Linux-based). Intended
to be used while connected to the Internet, it features a lower performance processor, SSD storage,
no optical drive and typically smaller size (somewhat
similar in functional philosophy to the netbook). It is
designed to run applications from the web, rather
than from internal storage. Acer and Samsung introduced Chromebooks in 2011, with HP and Lenovo
introducing models in 2013. Screen sizes range from
Prescott Computer Society MESSENGER
12” to 14” diagonal. Additional features include
quick boot up, long battery life and low cost ($200
to $450). They are sold primarily over the Internet.
Google itself is producing a Chromebook Pixel model
with premium features and price ($1300 to $1450).
Facebook - a social networking service started in
2004 on the Internet, with currently over 1 billion
active users.
Bookmaker - An organization or a person that takes
bets on events at specified odds.
I wouldn’t bet that these are going to be the only
book-related terms for us to deal with in the future,
but that’s all I have for now.
Review: Kingston HyperX SSD
By George Harding, Treasurer, Tucson Computer Society, AZ
February 2013 issue, eJournal
www.aztcs.org
Georgehardingsbd (at) earthlink.net
SSD’s are a wonderful addition to the hardware library of storage devices. They are small, have no
moving parts and are much faster than other storage media. On the down side, they are more expensive than other media and storage sizes are smaller
than what is easily available in other media. The
speed advantage is one that can be capitalized on to
load one’s operating system faster.
You can use your hard drive to hold and access your
applications and data, or you can use the SSD for
some applications, those that take longer to load.
I received a very nice 240 GB unit for review. I had
tried a couple of other SSDs, but had problems of
one sort or another with them. The Kingston unit
comes complete with what you need to install it in
either your desktop or your laptop.
The box contains the SSD, a nifty screwdriver suitable for either Phillips or slotted screw heads, a
drive enclosure, a 3 .5” mounting bracket, a USB cable, a SATA drive cable and a CD-ROM with instructions and a version of Acronis software. Then you
reboot from the SSD. The hard drive can be used as
storage for data and applications, as usual. Another
.
Continued on pg 5
Prescott Computer Society MESSENGER
Page 5
Continued from pg 4:
approach is to install operating system software to the
SSD and boot from it.
Review: Voyager S3 Drive Dock
By George Harding, Treasurer, Tucson Com-
puter Society, AZ
For a laptop, the procedure is somewhat different.
You first remove the internal hard drive and install in
February 2013 issue, eJournal
its place the SSD. The internal hard drive is mounted
www.aztcs.org
in the supplied drive enclosure and attached to the
Georgehardingsbd (at) earthlink.net
laptop with the USB cable. You clone the hard drive as
before.
If you have a desktop computer and have had to
change or add a new hard drive, you know what a
I had a few difficulties with these installations. First, I task that is. Getting to the insides of the computer is
tried the desktop approach, but the Acronis software the first challenge – mine is under the desk, so I
would not clone the hard disk to the SSD. The latter
have to disconnect all the cables and move the comwas grayed out in the destination choices, so I took
puter out where I can work on it. Then you have to
the alternate approach and loaded Windows 8 to the fish around and remove the old drive, mount and
SSD and was able to boot to it.
connect the new one, and then put everything back
together.
In the case of the laptop, I was not easily able to remove the internal hard drive, so I gave up on that ap- The voyager S3 Drive Dock saves you a lot of time
proach. Kingston’s Tech Support will be helping to
and effort. It requires a SATA drive, and attaches to
solve my difficulties – more later.
your computer with USB 3.0. You insert your drive in
The HyperX is a well-put-together kit and should be
usable by most anyone. The instructions are very
clear, with pictures each step of the way. The Acronis
software is reliable.
About: Kingston HyperX SSD
Vendor: Kingston
www.kingston.com
Price: $275, $203 @ Amazon
the dock, turn the dock on and you are in business.
It appears in Explorer as just another drive and can
be used as any other drive. Using it to back up the
system is really convenient. Just start your backup
software, select the destination and go. What could
be easier?
Since the computer connection is USB, you can swap
drives in the dock without having to turn the computer off – just plug and play!
While the dock is useful for a desktop, it’s even better for a laptop. To replace the hard drive in a laptop
means opening the base, removing tiny screws, and
then installing the replacement. Again, the dock is a
breeze to use with a laptop. You are simply adding a
hard drive instead of replacing one.
The box comes with a brief User Manual, the dock
itself, which has a slot for a 2.5” drive, and a hinged
flap for a 3 .5” drive, a power cord and transformer
and a USB 3.0 cable that is backward compatible
with USB 2.0.
The dock itself has a power button, which supplies
power to the SATA drive, an activity LED, which also
serves to show when power is on, and a drive eject
button. No drivers are required. This is a handy
Continued on pg 6
Page 6
Prescott Computer Society MESSENGER
Cont’d from page 5
solution to having an additional hard drive easily accessible, with the ability to swap out multiple drives
for either your desktop or your laptop.
About: Voyager S3 Drive Dock
Vendor: Newer Tech
www.newertech.com
Price: $35
Moving on...
•CIA - Computer Industry Acronyms
•CD-ROM : Consumer Device, Rendered Obsolete in Months
•PCMCIA : People Can't Memorize Computer
Industry AcronymsI
•SDN : It Still Does Nothing
•SCSI : System Can't See It
•MIPS : Meaningless Indication of Processor
Speed
•DOS : Defunct Operating System
•WINDOWS : Will Install Needless Data On
Whole System
•OS/2 : Obsolete Soon, Too
•PnP : Plug and Pray
•APPLE : Arrogance Produces Profit-Losing Entity
•IBM : I Blame Microsoft
•DEC : Do Expect Cuts
•MICROSOFT : Most Intelligent Customers Realize Our Software Only Fools Teenagers
•CA : Constant Acquisitions
•COBOL : Completely Obsolete Business Oriented Language
•LISP : Lots of Insipid and Stupid Parentheses
•MACINTOSH : Most Applications Crash; If Not,
The Operating System Hangs
•AAAAA : American Association Against Acronym Abuse.
•WYSIWYMGIYRRLAAGW : What You See Is
What You Might Get If You're Really Really
Lucky And All Goes Well.